“the beginning is the most important part of the work.” – plato

all of us are really wanting a fresh new year! this video made in 2019 by tbwa/paris for the national society of french railways (sncf) captures what our mind’s eye was seeking: a celebration of new life, a feeling of hope and optimism. may all your plans bloom and blossom beyond your wildest dreams.

the video was a way for the sncf to give thanks to those “preserving the planet” by traveling by train. according to the sncf, trains give off 30 times less co2 than individual cars and 20 times less than planes. thus, the national railway body is positioning itself as a healthy alternative to other modes of transport.

to illustrate this sentiment, the successive blooming of flowers – a time lapse that covers 200 hours. to capture each one of the 50 varieties included, every flower was photographed once every five seconds, day and night, which accumulated in 14,000 images per flower.

in the film, every flower that blooms is accompanied by the wheezing bang of fireworks, to illustrate the celebratory nature of the campaign. the sncp aims to transition from diesel-powered rail to developing stations that are autonomously powered by 2035.

#hello2021

last monday hertz made a mega announcement that they’re purchasing 100,000 teslas. in response the wall street journal‘s editorial board opines below what this means.

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the more you look behind corporate and government press releases these days, the more you learn about their mutual benefit society. we wrote tuesday about the many subsidies for tesla’s electric cars, but it turns out there’s also a pot of subsidy gold behind the hertz decision to buy 100,000 teslas for its car-rental fleet.

tesla ceo elon musk says he isn’t giving hertz a discount on the reported $4.2 billion order. but he doesn’t need to because the house reconciliation spending bill includes a 30% tax credit for “qualified commercial electric vehicles.”

the text doesn’t clearly define what is a “qualified commercial electric” vehicle, but our sources say hertz’s teslas would likely make the cut. the credit could save hertz $1.26 billion and make a tesla almost as cheap for hertz to buy as a toyota camry.

hertz plans to install thousands of electric-vehicle chargers, which could also be eligible for taxpayers subsidies. the house spending bill extends a 30% tax credit for the installation of ev charging stations through 2031, which is on top of the $7.5 billion appropriation for stations in the separate senate infrastructure bill.

hertz’s interim ceo mark fields is casting the company’s tesla order as a strategic business decision and evidence that evs are going mainstream. maybe, and there’s no doubt that the tesla order is winning progressive accolades for the rental-car company. electric vehicles are also less expensive to maintain than gas-powered cars, so they could reduce hertz’s operating costs.

but if evs make business sense, why must the government subsidize them? democrats complain that corporations aren’t paying their fair share in taxes, but then they give them generous tax breaks for promoting progressive policies that reduce their tax payments.

enjoy that hertz tesla ride. you’ll have paid more for it than the rental contract says.

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well ok, politics aside, there’s no such thing as a free lunch. it’s still a very green deal. a simple rental agreement equates to your ev training wheels which will lead to an ev purchase for many and more much needed charging stations. it’s one giant step in the right direction.

above> mca chicago’s virgil abloh 2019 retrospective “figures of speech”

social media best informs us of visibility and reach and virgil abloh‘s passing gave us a pretty clear picture of who he touched. he reached dizzying levels of cultural success in a dizzying short timespan. with engineering and architectural degrees, within a decade he created two fashion brands, pyrex vision and off-white, whose market was youth, hip-hop, “the street”, and grew to interning at luxury fashion pillars fendi to becoming the artistic director of louis vuitton.

in july 2021, lvmh, vuitton’s parent company, announced its acquisition of the off-white trademark in a landmark deal that gave abloh an unprecedented new role working across lvmh’s vast portfolio. though he started creating fashion he also dabbled with graphics with jay-z and kanye west and products via ikea, nike, mercedes-benz, and rimowa. but without question his biggest statement was the runway.

he also liked “words”, “isms”, a lot of quotation marks. he liked the word “readymade,” a term coined in 1915 by marcel duchamp, the french-american artist best known for taking found objects (most famously, a standard-issue urinal) and re-contextualizing them as art, which abloh interprets as a way to birth new ideas with recognizable parts.

his approach juxtaposes hip-hop and the omnesiac culture of the internet, where the past is impossible to forget; always just a few clicks away and open to constant referencing. “it’s called hip-hop, it’s called sampling. you take a record and you make this new format of music from these adjacencies,” he explains. “we don’t exist devoid of the artists and thinkers that came before us: mies van der rohe, rem koolhaas, kanye west, pharell, caravaggio. they give us soil,” he continues. “it’s dangerous when you start naming yourself as the oracle.”

this approach is illustrated by what he calls the “3 percent approach,” the notion that you only need to edit something three percent to make it seem at once familiar and completely new, a winning proposition for abloh. “you notice a lot in my work the referencing or taking a thought and adding a component,” he explains. “duchamp is my favorite. duchamp is my lawyer.”

he is described as a visionary, trailblazer, cross-generationist, rule breaker, and genre-bender. he gets compared to karl lagerfield.

abloh was often quoted saying that everything that he did was for the “17-year-old version of myself.” “i would sort of agree i’m not a designer; that term seems like it’s for traditionalists,” he says. “tbd the new title.”

on tuesday, 30 november 2021, he was expected to present a louis vuitton runway show in miami ahead of art basel to mark the opening of a dedicated men’s store. vuitton will present the show in his honor.

above> photography by delfino sisto

above/below> 2019 mca chicago – “figures of speech” offers an unprecedented survey of abloh’s creative work over nearly two decades and pulls back the curtain on his process. in the exhibition, prototypes are presented alongside finished artworks, product designs, and fashion to reveal his myriad inspirations – from centuries-old painting to commonplace signage at construction sites. running throughout the exhibition is an emphasis on dialogue, which abloh creates through his inventive use of language and quotation marks, turning the objects he designs and the people who wear his clothing into “figures of speech.” editor’s note: the takeaway from this installation – this guy is indeed special.

[ mca figures of speech ]

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above/below> louis vuitton chicago flagship showroom during george floyd 2020 summer protests // million dollar glasses

above/below> 2021 mercedes-benz project gelandewagen unveiled – artistic, track-spec g-wagen with full race car cabin. the project that bears the name ‘geländewagen’ was supported by gorden wagener, the brand’s design director, in which despite being a conceptual creation that simulates a racing version, all the details of the suv were carefully thought out. abloh, in a statement to mercedes-benz, sees his contribution as a sculpture that meets the profile and habits of those who consume the brand and that is ready to hit the art market.

above> 2018 / off – white little black dress

above> 2018 / abloh’s first louis vuitton mens’s spring-summer 2019 collection

above> his final louis vuitton collection // editor’s video note: hip-hop befits vuitton indeed

above> ice dancers piper gilles and paul poirier wear the beijing 2022 opening ceremony uniform by lululemon

in the 80s i felt chicago and toronto had more differences than similarities: the size was comparable but toronto was cleaner and hipper – they have vidal sassoon you know. what i didn’t know then was that sassoon’s mix of style and performance made it the obvious choice as official hair consultant to the athletes participating in the los angeles olympic games in 1984. sassoon and his international team conducted months of research with 100 athletes to determine which haircuts performed best during different sporting activities. a huge campus salon was set up in the university of california to cut and care for the hair of 2,500 athletes. today, both cities seem equally clean and hip, so enough!, let’s talk about 2022 winter olympics fashion statements.

in october 2021 canada debuted it’s winter olympic uniforms and announced a six-year run with relative newcomer in athleisure lululemon. today, ralph lauren debuted its latest Olympic designs, the label an olympic mainstay in their uniforms since 2008, did the same. regarding style, lauren is known for and again presents a traditional statement. lululemon presents their familiar chic. but let’s not forget that we may only be looking at opening night(?) apparel and we’ll have to wait for the events uniforms which can be a little more aggressive – as they should be! opening ceremonies to be held on 4 february in beijing.

regarding style, lauren offers red white and blue buffalo plaid puffer jackets, parkas, american flag turtlenecks emblematic of ralph lauren, and fleece leggings or pants. lululemon offers an all-red or all-cream motif paying homage to the maple leaf that appears as a simple icon as well as an abstracted print which includes parkas, down jackets, joggers, trapper caps, bucket hats and zip-ups, with plenty of opportunities to modify: the parka can be zipped off into three different lengths, and the down jacket can be worn like a backpack if it gets too hot. lululemon also presents a transformer-like modular look including a vest that turns into a pillow or scarf.

we’re appreciative the brands made sustainable and technologic statements. lauren’s effort on sustainability is with recycled polyester made from plastic bottles, recycled down and responsible wool standard (rws) wool – the company press statement explains that the brand is committed to using 100% rws-certified or recycled wool by 2025. lauren also includes a tech-driven detail for their jackets which include a smart, honeycomb-like fabric layer built-in that expands or contracts in response to temperature changes — all without the use of a battery or wired technology. lululemon’s tech-driven effort is with smart textiles that are insulated, sweat-wicking, bacteria-inhibiting, breathable, resistant to water and wind, and light on seams.

above/below > photos courtesy of ralph lauren

above> athlete jason brown (figure skating) / below> athlete hilary knight (ice hockey)

below > photos courtesy of lululemon

above> liam hickey wearing the uniform for on the podium

all-in-all DesignApplause likes lululemon’s design focus on function, such as multiple layered parkas. during the opening ceremonies, athletes can be on that journey for four to six hours or waiting to perform and the temperature can go from minus-10 degrees celsius to plus-10. the uniform is based on a dynamic dressing system, athletes will be able to shed – or add – individual pieces.

also the human-led design utilization where over an 18-month period lululemon takes athlete insights from a number of sports and creates an innovative nurture campaign so team canada olympic and paralympic athletes can feel their best to perform their best. the vancouver-based lululemon scanned the bodies of a number of athletes, consulted them for subjective feedback on aesthetics and comfort and also simulated beijing winter conditions. the design team studied areas of bodily heat loss and engineered appropriate compensations into the garment, through innovative 3d engineered knitting. read: q&a with the designer of the beijing 2022 olympic collection.

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this is my 11th year as a gia innovations award judge. today was judgement day to scrutinize five product design finalists in 10 categories. that meant a visit to mccormick place and an attempt at a pre-show peek of this year’s the inspired home‘s 2022 show. i didn’t go into the great halls however because i didn’t bring a hard hat. the photos give an idea of a very different presentation, a refreshing new experience.

the global innovation awards (gia) program was launched in january 2000 with the goal of recognizing and honoring excellence in home and housewares retailing on a global scale. in the 20 years since its inception, the gia program has expanded to recognize innovation in four different facets of home and housewares excellence: retail excellence, product design, booth design, and student design. the photo below may be the display case build-out where the winners will reside. in 2022 over 250 entries were viewed by 20 judges to select the 2022 gia awards winners:

discover design is seven years old in 2022 and is a destination of more than 100 design-centric exhibitors from around the world. the confines includes the discover design gallery – the photo below may be the display case build-out featuring the products submitted for the gia awards; and design debut, an incubator program within discover design, featuring new companies.

on the way out after judging and in the great concourse we find, well not really, you have to pass the pantone booth to get to the great halls or the buses. this venue is way better than their previous location in the lakeside building. here, though the architecture is a bit busy, an abundant amount of natural ambient light means a correct color presentation, a rarity seldom realized in a trade show environment.

this sunday leatrice eiseman, director of the pantone color institute will speak sunday – check your inspired home app for more details. leatrice is also the creator of the annual pantone color forecasts illustrated in the colorwatch display. color is such a vital component to good design, we recommend taking this opportunity to hear what this highly esteemed color expert has to say.

i also met this year’s student winners. this category is one of my favorite happenings and manages to showoff amazing talent and their winning effort.

below > we see the six winners and in the foreground vicki montranga. i’ve known her for over 20 years. vicki is a chicago product design historian without peer. she’s also an advisor to the chicago design archive. she conceived the student competition in 1993 and 2022 is the 29th year. i’m told there’s a box of anniversary booklets on site and one has my name on it. please do not miss this special opportunity to hear their presentations and share ideas of what does good design mean.

below > les mendelson, founder of umbra, said these student competitions are the future of design. he shared his story of his company’s history and had two of his design managers do a walk-thru of the students booth.

below > evan dash, left, founder of storebound, outlined his company’s history and design determination. dash and mendelson have both hired past winners of iha’s competition. dash hired an arizona state student who then grew the design department and manages production in china.

formerly the international home + housewares show, the inspired home show is north america’s largest housewares trade show! we connect not only buyer to seller, but also product to lifestyle and the industry to the consumer mindset. every year, more than 52,000 home and housewares professionals from more than 130 countries converge upon chicago to discover new housewares products and industry trends, meet face-to-face with executives from top retail and manufacturer brands, and gain the insights, leads and exposure to jump-start a successful year. the show is owned and operated by the international housewares association (iha), which has a rich history within the housewares industry dating back more than 80 years.

@TIH_Show #TIHS22 #giaAwards @DesignApplause #DesignApplause @pantone @umbra #design #productdesign #designinspiration #modernkitchen #modernhome #homedesign #kitchendesign #cooking

DesignApplause is honored to be a gia awards judge for the past 11 years, and i looked forward to selecting the best of the 2022 product design – thank you for submitting your product. the judges used the following criteria to select all submissions:

the gia awards criteria
> appearance
> user benefits
> ecological responsibility
> market impact & positioning – note: this judge’s interpretation for example, if you’re making an ecological statement you’re letting the end-user know via the point-of-purchase (pop) packaging and/or product website – why? consumers are wanting planet saving products. how do we know for sure? give credit to the automobile industry’s dramatic shift to electric cars / if you’re making a design statement you might mention on the (pop) packaging, etc., that you’re entering your product and winning in other design competitions by displaying an award logo, i.e., a red dot award or german design award winner / if you mention that you’re product was mentioned in design-centric media, let your audience know because they want to make a statement too.

thirteen housewares suppliers ranging from well-established brands to first-time exhibitors were honored as global honorees of the iha global innovation awards (gia) for excellence in product design today. the global honorees in each of 13 categories were announced during the invitation-only gia dinner on the first evening of the inspired home show 2022, and the winners as well as the finalists were on display at the show. this is the first in-person gathering of the industry’s premier marketplace since 2019. the global winners are:

[ note: this post a work-in-progress as info comes in… ]

> bath + personal care: madesmart, drying stone toothbrush tray

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> cleaning: zoom broom, zoombroom tornado

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> cook + bakeware: grand fusion housewares, inc., leakproof silicone non-stick baking mat

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> home décor + gifts: wine grasp company, winegrasp single

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> home organization + storage: king jim, “tepra” lite – compact, palm-sized label printer

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> household + home electrics: the foundation, steamery cirrus no. 3

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> kitchen electrics: jura inc., jura z10

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> kitchen hand tools + cutlery: dreamfarm , brizzle – scoop drizzle basting brush

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> kitchenware: dreamfarm, spina – spin and strain colander

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> personal electrics: viatek consumer products group, int’l, body dryer

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> smart home: cooking pal ltd., multo

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> sustainable products: georg jensen, sky drinking bottle – ( below )

designed to be used – and reused the new sky drinking bottle is available in both a stainless-steel version as well as in four elegant shades made from bpa-free tritan plastic: blue, pink, green, and gray. it is designed to be used time and time again, helping you limit the consumption of disposable bottles. designer: aurelien barbry

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> tabletop: gourmet kitchen works llc, olipac filare

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the 65 finalists in all categories are featured in the new product showcases in the buyers club in each show building and the 13 category global honorees are on display in the hall of product innovation in the grand concourse lobby in the north building.

https://www.theinspiredhomeshow.com/awards/gia-product/

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#TIHS22 @TIH_Show

above > lew with daughters l>r sharon & roberta circa early 90s courtesy greg samata

i can’t think of one designer who was practicing in the 60s thru 2000 or even later that didn’t know lew. he was engaged in everything designers were engaged in. he could have been a father figure for me. but let’s here it from renoun chicago designer greg samata who delivered the following at lew’s services.

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I loved Lew Asher!

A week ago Pat and I told him as he lay in his hospice bed. He smiled and heard us.

Thursday I will turn 72 years old. One of my first clients was Nuclear Data,it was 1976.
I was 26 years old and Lew Asher walked into my office and my life.

He was hired by the company to do the printing of the book I designed.

My first all color brochure!!!!

Ruth, his wife, was in the car. She would go to meetings with him and stay outside in the car.
Afterwards they would go to lunch or spend the afternoon together. He was a great father, husband and friend.

I would have sat in that car too. It was BMW 2002, silver, black top and red interior. It happened to be my all time favorite car at the time. He was instantly my hero!

He came into the office, I laid out my art boards to go over the job with him. Lew stood there quiet and very professional, looked at me with a serious tone and said “I can’t print this”.

I said “well why not” the young, not to be denied kid that I was.

It was my first lesson from Lew Asher, although I did not realize it at the time.

He said every book printed is multiples of four pages , you can’t bind 19 pages..

I knew nothing.

We went on to do volumes of work in multiples of four. After that he taught me
everything I know about the business, and he was the best at it.

Back then designers and service providers could put mark ups on goods and
products that you re-sold. It was common then but now no longer in favor.
And designers were always trying to get their own books and posters and marketing
materials printed. Of course there was never enough money.

So Lew and I created a system we called “put it on the wall”. Every job that was
marked up, the mark up would go “on the wall” and we used it to pay for personal projects.

My dad died in 1981. Pat and I were married 3 months before he died.
And Lew was passed the mantle to be my second father… It just happened.
A natural unspoken progression for two people who cared about each other.

I needed advice. Lew was there.
I needed to be talked off the ledge, constantly,…Lew was there

The issues ran from things that had nothing to do with printing.
Things like…honesty, loyalty, morality, family, friendships, business and yes even
sometimes ink on paper.

Together, professionally, we set a new standard in printing in Chicago, with
IPP Lithocolor doing the film back them, and Lew’s company Great Northern Design Printing
leading the way with all the best designers in the city.

Printing was taken to an art form and we never looked back.

Lew was generous, smart, sincere, honest to the end, and the best damn friend
and father anyone could have.

I loved Lew Asher

above > collectors enjoying video art by a former graphic designer gregory scott / catherine edelman gallery booth 169

note: this post in ‘in-progress’ as we await more details…

what is the difference between art and design? i think it comes down to function. design can have many functions, whereas art has one single function. the function of art.

the question of what’s the difference between art and design often comes up at art expositions, perfect launchpads for such a confabulation. in this instance, DesignApplause submits that architecture, design, and engineering are one and the same.

> “what is the difference between art and design? as it applies to graphic design, i will say that the difference between art and design or artist and designers, is expression vs communication. … expression is about the artist and their view, design is about the audience and viewer. expression can be abstract and intangible but design has to be clear for the most part.” ~ anonymous

> “when one attempts to define art, there will be an artist to prove it wrong. ‘art is beautiful’ art becomes ugly. ‘art is emotional’ art becomes emotionless. ‘art is form’ art becomes idea. that’s the problem, art will always shatter definitions.

having said that, i will ignore my own advice and take a crack. i think it comes down to function. design can have many functions, whereas art has one single function. the function of art. digging deeper, the art concept can be portrayed in many different ways. the function of art isn’t singular, its endless.

so design is applied art? or maybe an eames chair is a design object when you’re trying to sell it or sit in it, and an art object when you’re observing it, etc. ~ anonymous

DesignApplause asked galleries if their artists in this show pursued any architectural or design studies in their background. 24 of 30 (80%) galleries point out the following:

artist margaret wharton worked in advertising before she received a bfa from the school of the art institute in sculpture. whorton, who passed away in 2014, left behind fantastically crafted sculptural assemblages as well as a body of raely seen conceptual photographs. hers is the story of women artists who came out in the 1970s declaring their feminisst credos. and many, like warton, used the very trappings of their domestic environment as form and content. wharton tells us, “the bandsaw was her paintbrush.’ / jean albano gallery booth 317

above> artist sara cwynar has a degree in design from york university in toronto / foxy production booth 314

above > fredrickson stallard – ian stallard earned a degree in product design and studied architecture (red chair, chrome coffee and side tables) david gill gallery 234

above > artist tomokazu matsuyama has a pratt degree in communications design / gavi gupta booth 211

above > artist virginia jaramillo was inspired by product designers charles and ray eames – jaramillo and a selected group of other students would make weekly visits to the celebrated designer charles eames’s studio. there, jaramillo was introduced to design, architecture, and “a philosophy of structure and the purity of form.” these discoveries opened “a different way of seeing” for jaramillo and would guide her artistic thinking and output in the following decades. even as she was learning from the eameses, she began to explore japanese woodcuts and a related aesthetic philosophy, called ma, which she would ultimately channel into “the curvilinear paintings,” her best-known series. / hales gallery booth 323

above> an interesting chat with gallery owner who says none of his artists studied architecture or design / however gallery is overly represented in typographic art – the image above was created by an art & architecture department chairperson (awaiting name of artist) gallery rene schmitt booth 128

above > timothy taylor booth 205

above> featuring designer jonathan meuke (works in the middle) / volume gallery booth 332

above > designer george douglas

each year millions of americans face the reality of living with a mental illness. during may, DesignApplause and the rest of the country are raising awareness of mental health. each year we fight stigma, provide support, educate the public and advocate for policies that support people with mental illness and their families.

this post debuted on 1 may 2019 and updated 1 may 2022.

[ resources ]
us mental health awareness week 2020
mental health america
nami / national alliance on mental illness / why care?
national institute of mental health

[ visual inspiration ]

above > self care / designer destinyblue

above > dyslexia is a learning disorder that involves difficulty reading due to problems identifying speech sounds and learning how they relate to letters and words (decoding). also called reading disability, dyslexia affects areas of the brain that process language.

therefore a child’s brain assumes or perceives alphabets / objects differently
the idea of this campaign is to support the children suffering from dyslexia, and to bring awareness amongst parents, teaching staff and others dealing with children of dyslexia to understand what their brain functions like or how it is difficult for them to adapt and understand the basics of learning. designer shravani virkud

above > i’m not. designer anoosh mubashar

above > designer grace bates

above > designer anoushka agarwal / i created a series of poster targeting mental health. i kept the colour theme red, black and white to show the seriousness and potential danger of lack of mental well being. this series shows the suicide aspect of mental ill-being. the posters come with supplementary information to make the message more clear. in all of the posters, i have provided the details of office of counselling and awareness at polyu, hong kong instead of some external counselling service keeping in mind the target audience, the university students and also the ease with which they can be contacted.
this project is also based on project semi-colon. an author uses a semicolon instead of a full stop when he doesn’t want to end his sentence. so the project was based on not giving up hope and making things better instead of resorting to suicide. the noose and the comma are a reflection of the project.

above > idaho federation of families for children’s mental health

above > designer john barton / sometimes a poster is designed to target just a section of the population, who may have trouble expressing their emotions; for example males. barton, a uk graphic designer created this poster for leeds met students’ union, to encourage males to go to counseling / ivline

above/ below > designer patrizia tresca / focusing on the depression and dyslexia, these posters aim to create awareness and engage the viewer with their personal messages.

above > designer george douglas / the links between creativity and depression and how the design industry can tackle mental health via eye on design

above > designer angela nardiello – angelphis 13 / this 11×14 print is created from an original hand-drawn sketch. it communicates enduring the healing process of manipulation/mental abuse. victims of other situations including depression and other disorders, current human rights abuse situations, and more can also relate to this sketch.

marcus fairs passing is a big loss to all of us. he was a big inspiration to architecture and design. a visionary. although 20-plus years my junior, i consider him a mentor. he founded and authored a great resource in #iconmagazine and in #dezeen that will carry on I’m sure but not be quite the same without him.

marcus fairs launches dezeen as a blog in 2006. the site not so great. the content on the other hand was relevant, opinion-filled, and the best of examples. the most current mission statement in fair’s own words with anders holst podcast was to be the most influential and popular design website in the world. mission accomplished.

above > icon cover recent issue

fast rewind, fairs launches icon magazine in 2003. as editor the magazine readership soars. in his own words, “a great publication in the golden era of print.” then fairs publishes a significant book, twenty-first century design in 2006 with a foreword by marcel wanders for which he is fired by media 10. he was fired because he didn’t clear the book with his bosses. both the first thru third editions of fair’s book can be found on amazon. the firing, which can also be heard in holst podcast, is strange because you would think the publisher, media 10, would be proud, not pissy, to have a visible expert editor publishing a book. but fairs had an internet something up his sleeve, “i can do this!” yes marcus, indeed you can.

above> the cover of first edition

[ dezeen ] @marcusfairs #iconmagazine #dezeen

i followed dezeen from the get-go and felt honored that he followed DesignApplause. we also met in milan in 2018 and vowed to have a drink at bar basso. sadly i have yet to go to bar basso.